Maine AG says shooting by police justified

By David Hench, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced on Thursday that the South Portland and Portland police officers who shot a fugitive in October reasonably believed that their lives were in danger and that they needed to shoot him to protect themselves.

The officers had been looking for Terrel Dubois, 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was wanted for failing to appear in court on a domestic violence kidnapping charge and who had threatened to kill police if they caught up with him. Plainclothes officers found and confronted him at an apartment on Elm Street in South Portland on the night of Oct. 11.

The investigative report says South Portland officer Steven Connors was shot by Dubois at close range and, as he collapsed to the floor, he pulled his gun and fired eight times. At the same time, Portland Sgt. Robert Doherty, who was behind Connors in the tight quarters of the small apartment, pulled his gun and fired once, the report said.